In the past, the government has auctioned off network space,
known in geek speak as wireless spectrum. Each carrier got its
own spectrum. But they desperately need more. The Feds have it
and its sitting mostly unused, reserved for the military.

Carriers have been after Washington for eons to auction it off.
But there are reasons not to like what if, heaven forbid, there's
a war and the military needs it?

Sharing it between all the carriers and the feds seems a natural
solution, but it's not something that the carriers ever wanted to
try. They'd rather let their competitors run out of room.

But this chunk of spectrum is so big and juicy the three have
agreed to experiment with sharing it. (More geek speak: 95 MHz of
spectrum in the 1755 - 1850 MHz band.)

The biggest selling point: this spectrum is already being used by
carriers in Europe, "so there are plenty of smartphones available
without having to manufacture products with new frequencies,"
wireless industry pioneer George Schmitt told Business Insider.
Schmitt is CEO of MB Technology Holdings, a company that makes
the tech that lets carriers share spectrum and one of the guys
that invented the wireless industry. As former CEO for one of the
first mobile phone carriers, PCS PrimeCo (now Verizon Wireless),
he bought $2.5 billion worth of spectrum from the feds 16 years
ago.

Schmitt says this deal would let carriers handle double to
quadruple the number of phone calls and video downloads they
could handle now.

"Demand could go up a couple 100 percent and there will still be
plenty of capacity," he says.